1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for generating surface data to be added to three dimensional shape data.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the art to generate three dimensional shape data by using a three dimensional measuring apparatus utilizing the light section method or the like. The three dimensional measuring apparatus optically scans an object to be measured, by projecting, for example, a slit ray and deflecting it, and obtains three dimensional shape data by calculation based on the principle of triangulation. By measuring around the circumference of the object and joining together the acquired three dimensional shape data, the three dimensional shape data of the entire object is obtained.
However, depending on the shape and orientation of the object or the illumination condition, three dimensional shape data may not be obtained fully, and may contain data dropouts.
In that case, such data dropout portions must be filled. One way to achieve this is to generate a grid-patterned surface and join the generated surface and the data dropout portion together along the contour thereof.
The problem here is what surface is to be generated and how the generated surface is arranged with respect to the original three dimensional shape data. In this case, if the user has to determine or make such settings to generate three dimensional data, the user would have to go through extremely time and labor consuming procedures.